Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Indicted Indonesian General Leads Joint Military Excercise with U.S.

Our focus is Iraq but this came into the public account and we already have our three entries for the day and ETAN is an organization that does strong work (often with too little attention from the media), so consider this a bonus.

Contact: John M. Miller (718) 596 7668; (917) 690-4391 (cell)

Indicted Indonesian General Leads Joint Military Exercise with U.S.

April 26, 2007 - The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)today condemned the participation of Indonesian Major General NoerMuis in a joint U.S.-Indonesia military exercise this week. GeneralMuis has been indicted for crimes against humanity in East Timor.

Photos of the general with U.S. Army, Pacific commander Lt. GeneralJohn M Brown III are featured on the U.S. Army, Pacific website(http://www.usarpac.army.mil/news/GS2007/CGCheckProgress.htm) whereMuis is described as co-director of a "command post" exercise, GarudaShield, now taking place in West Java. It is scheduled to run fromApril 16-27.

"General Muis belongs in a courtroom, not a joint U.S.-Indonesiacommand center. The Bush administration has repeatedly stated that itsupports accountability for the horrendous crimes committed in EastTimor in 1999. Working with an accused mastermind of those crimes isa funny way to show it," said John M. Miller, ETAN's NationalCoordinator.

"That the U.S. Army should so proudly feature General Muis on itswebsite, demonstrates the meaningless of administration pledges ofvetting to keep Indonesian officers accused of human rights crimesfrom U.S. training programs and other direct cooperation," said Miller.

"This is further evidence that the administration's short-sightedrush to expand assistance to an unaccountable Indonesian militarysacrifices human rights," he added.

Muis was tried and convicted for crimes against humanity byIndonesia's Ad Hoc Human Rights Court in 2003 for his role in brutalattacks on East Timor's Dili Diocese, East Timorese Bishop Belo'shouse and the Suai Church massacre in September 1999. His convictionand sentence of five years were overturned on appeal in that widelydiscredited process, in which all but one conviction was overturned.

A colonel at the time, Colonel Muis (variously spelled Nur Muis andNoer Moeis) became local military commander in East Timor two weeksprior to the August 30, 1999 independence referendum. In thatcapacity, he bears major responsibility for the atrocities committedby his troops and their militia proxies. Just before the referendumresults were announced, he described contingency plans to evacuate upto a quarter-million East Timorese from their homeland, a plan thatwas soon forcibly implemented.

On February 24, 2003, Muis was indicted with other senior officers bythe UN-backed serious crimes process in East Timor. The indictmentstates that Muis "failed to take necessary and reasonable measures toprevent the crimes being committed by his subordinates and he failedto take necessary and reasonable measures to punish perpetrators ofthose crimes," despite being "repeatedly informed" of those crimes.At least 1400 people died, hundreds of thousands were forciblydisplaced, and most of East Timor's infrastructure was destroyed asthe Indonesian military punished East Timor for its pro-independencevote.

Muis is currently commander of the 1st Infantry Division of the ArmyStrategic Reserve Command (Kostrad).

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